In the first round of parliamentary elections, the French far right leads by a wide margin.

 

On Sunday, the French far right, led by Jordan Bardella, led the first round of the historic legislative elections in France by a wide margin and could come to power for the first time under the Fifth Republic, according to preliminary estimates by polling centers.

With between 34.2 and 34.5 percent of the vote, the National Rally and its allies were ahead of the left-wing coalition (the National Popular Front), which received between 28.5 and 29.1 percent of the vote, while President Emmanuel Macron's camp was in third place (20.5 to 21.5 percent) in this election, which saw a high turnout.

As for the Republicans (right), who are not allied with the extreme right, they received ten percent.

The first expectations for the number of seats in the National Assembly indicate that the National Rally and its allies will obtain a large relative majority and perhaps an absolute majority after the second round, scheduled for next Sunday.

Emmanuel Macron said in a written statement distributed to the media at 20:00: "Faced with the National Rally, it is now time for a broad coalition that will be clearly democratic and republican in the second round".

He praised "the great participation that shows the importance of this vote for all citizens and the desire to clarify the political situation," adding that "their democratic choice obliges us," after bringing together the heads of the center-right parties with which he has governed since 2017.

For her part, the far-right leader Marine Le Pen confirmed that "Macron's camp has been practically wiped out," announcing her re-election in the first round in her district of Pas-de-Calais in the north of the country.

The Republican Party (conservative right), which received about ten percent of the vote in the first round of the legislative elections in France, refused to call on its voters to vote against the far-right National Rally in the second round.

The party's leadership said in a statement, "Since we will not be present in the second round, and since voters are free to choose, we will not issue national instructions and we will let the French express their conscience." The European representative of the Republicans, François-Xavier Bellamy, considered that "the danger that threatens our country today is the extreme left".

In the left camp, environmentalists, socialists and communists announced that they would withdraw if there was another candidate better able to prevent the National Rally from winning.

The position of the leader of the Radical Left Bloc, Jean-Luc Mélenchon, followed the same trend, announcing the withdrawal of the leftist candidates who came in third on Sunday.

Mélenchon believed that the election results represented a "heavy and undeniable defeat" for President Macron and said, "In keeping with our principles and firm positions in all previous elections (...) we withdraw our candidacy because we only came third."

Left-wing MEP Raphael Glucksmann said: "We have seven days to save France from disaster.

With the best result in its history in the first round of legislative elections, the National Rally has high hopes of winning a relative or absolute majority on July 7.

If its leader, Jordan Bardella, becomes prime minister, it will be the first time since World War II that a far-right government will rule France. But the National Rally leader had previously said he would not accept the post unless his party won an absolute majority.

Bardella reiterated on Sunday, after the first estimates were published, that he wanted to be "prime minister for all French people", stressing that "the French people have made a clear judgment".

This will lead to an unprecedented coexistence between Macron, the president who carries the European project, and a government more hostile to the European Union.

The second possible scenario is a faltering National Assembly, without the possibility of forging alliances in the face of great polarization between the parties, which threatens to plunge France into the unknown.

At the end of this election day, which was marked by a high turnout at the polling stations, the participation rate is expected to be no less than 65 percent, according to the polling centers.

At the polling stations, many voters did not hide their anxiety about these early elections.

Roxanne Le Brun (40 years old) in Bordeaux (southwest) said: "I want to restore calm because everything has taken a worrying turn since the European elections".

Police officer Christophe (22 years old) in Saint-Etienne said he was very worried about elections that "will lead to further division among the people.